


His Best Move

by kyballs



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Football | Soccer, High School AU, M/M, More tags to be added, Slow Build, and he isn't having any of it, brief cris/irina, cris can't get gareth to join the football team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-03-31 19:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3990595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyballs/pseuds/kyballs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The seniors graduate and the football team does poorly over summer league. The captain, Cristiano plays rec games to try to find a good player. He finds one but, he turns the offer down, Cristiano is not standing for that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so i was watching a disney movie called Her Best Move at 1AM and I always have balenaldo feels and the muses just spoke to me so here i am making my debut in the Gareth Bale/Cristiano Ronaldo tag

Last year's seniors had left, Cristiano was now a senior. The team's captains, Iker and Sergio graduated and went to play in college in hopes of making the national team together. The had both gone to the same college together, Sergio not wanting to be separated from his partner. Nobody on the team could imagine them being apart, they went to prom together both junior and senior year, they were the school's first pair of 'Prom Kings'.

He and Marcelo were captains now and judging by how roughy their summer league had been, it was not going to be a good season. Cristiano was not an easy player to keep up with for his teammates. Kaká graduated last year with Iker and Sergio, and Kaká was the only player Cris could really be on par with.

In the off months of late July and early August Cristiano found himself bored, he was staying in America for the summer instead of visiting Portugal and his family. He normally sat with Marcelo and played Mario Kart, went out with Irina or he went on a run with Fabio. A couple times he and Karim decided to play some games at the rec center. They were supposed to go today but Karim showed up at his house with his knee in a brace.

Cristiano went down to the rec center anyway, if he could find a good enough player, whether they went to their school or not, he could get coach Ancelotti to recruit him. Who knows, maybe there would be more than one. That was highly unlikely as he had yet to find even one person who could fill the void left by Kaká.

He sent a quick message to Irina to let her know why he wouldn't be answering calls or texts.

Karim drove them to the community center and the game started at the scheduled time. Well, it would have, had Cristiano's team not been down a player.

"Oi, you!" Karim shouted, Cristiano's eyes followed to the boy he was shouting at. A boy with short brown hair and vibrant light blue eyes. Cristiano had seen him at school before but he had no clue who he was. He looked startled as Karim shouted obnoxiously at him. "Yes you! C'mere."

"Yeah?" the kid asked as he walked to Karim, "What is it?"

"Do you know how to play football-soccer in American terms?"

"Yeah but I haven't-" Karim cut him off, he sounded foreign. Then again mostly all of them were as they went to a boarding school. He sounded... English? Irish? Cristiano couldn't tell, he'd never paid attention to the UK.

"Great! What's your name?"

"Gareth..." Welsh! That's what the accent was, he'd made the acquaintance of a few other Welshman before.

"This is Gareth he's going to be on Cristiano's team, sort it out and get started." Gareth looked completely lost, he was dazed by Karim's obnoxious-borderline rude personality. Cris felt bad so he walked towards Gareth.

"If it's alright?" he asked him.

"Um yeah, I was just going to go on a run anyway. I'm not really that good though."

"It's fine, it's just for fun. You can start up on the left wing across from me"

"Yeah, alright."

The game went on as it would've. The team wasn't really passing to Gareth, probably as he'd admitted to not really being good. He wasn't getting tired though which was good. The game had continued through the first 30 minute half and Gareth didn't seem to be affected by the constant running, it was obvious to Cristiano that he was an athlete. The next short half started 5 minutes later. Again, it was pretty uneventful and the ball had only been passed to Gareth about 3 times who then would pass to an open teammate up the field. Cristiano was impressed, however, when Gareth made an amazing cross to him after the ball had finally been passed to him.

The most shocking part of the game was probably when a defensive corner had been cleared up to Gareth and he had a brilliant breakaway, passing to Cris at the last second to ensure a goal. They'd won the game 2-1 and Gareth was grabbing his bag, getting ready to leave.

Cris felt like Gareth had filled a small part of the void Kaká left in the team after graduating, and Gareth hadn't even played for the actual team.

"Gareth! Gareth, hold on, wait!" he called after the Welsh boy, jogging towards him, "You said you weren't good."

"I'm not, it's just a hobby of mine."

"Well, you're pretty great for it just being a hobby." he looked at Cristiano, puzzled for a second.

"Thanks." Gareth finished changing his shoes.

"You should play. For the school."

"Football isn't my thing." he said, standing and walking away. Cristiano stood there, stunned for a second, before jogging to catch up with the Welsh boy.

"What do you mean football isn't your thing? You're great." Gareth stopped walking and looked at him.

"I'm not. I haven't played for an actual team since I lived in Wales."

"But you're still so good!" he was shouting at this point. Cristiano never claimed that he wasn't passionate.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Gareth walked away, Cris was awestruck. The one person he had found that he was compatable with on the field was refusing to play. He couldn't annoy him into playing because he didn't even know how to reach him. He'd find out though, this opportunity was not slipping through his fingers like that, Gareth could say no but he wasn't giving up without a fight.

"Cris, what the hell are you doing? C'mon I'm hungry, I want to go eat. I'll leave without you." Karim yelled, gimping past him.

"Yeah, alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sergio and iker aren't gonna be in the story but seriker is amazing so i had to throw then in there (look at my seriker story if you want)
> 
> anyways im gonna continue and comments are always appreciated


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cristiano will not leave Gareth alone about joining the football team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im probably going to update on monday and thursdays as of tmmr but i'm not really sure, comments help a lot

"Did you get him to join the team?" Karim asked stuffing french fries into his mouth. Cristiano was still angry about that, not necessarily angry but bothered by it.

"No." He answered, aggressively squeezing a near-empty bottle of ketchup onto his cheeseburger. Why wouldn't he accept that he's good and be on the football team?

"That sucks."

"Yeah, I know Karim." Cristiano was getting grouchy talking about this, Karim wouldn't pick up on that anytime soon so he just changed the subject.

 

 

 

Cristiano and Irina were eating lunch in the mall food court. He had his arm around her and they were discussing his appetite. She was telling him that he ate way too much and he was countering by telling her that he exercised 5 times as much as he ate.

They were laughing about something when Cristiano saw Gareth walking towards a Mexican restaurant. "Hey babe, I'll see you later. I have... business to take care of."

"Cristiano what the hell?"

"I'll text you later, I promise." Irina glared at him before making an annoyed noise and grabbing her purse, leaving the mall. Cris couldn't blame her, they were supposed to be on a date.

"Hi Gareth." Cristiano said sliding next to Gareth, who was waiting for his food. Gareth looked at Cristiano for a second, he knew what this was about.

"Hi Casanova." Gareth answered. Cristiano gave him a 'bite me' look before responding.

"Funny. Look, I'm going to get right to it. Judging by the football team's performance in the summer league this year, this is gonna be a bad season for us. As captain, I'm trying to get that not to happen. I think you're great and that the team would benefit from you being in it."

"I'm flattered Cristiano, really, but no. I have cross-country." The man at the register gave Gareth his food and Gareth began to walk away after saying thank you.

"Cross-country? Cross-country! You can run just as much at football! Maybe even more on a good day!" Cristiano was saying loudly, Gareth looked slightly annoyed but not agitated.

"I've done cross-country since I started going to this school, I can't just stop."

"But you're so good at football, the team needs you! I'm sure there are other runners that are good on the cross-country team."

"Yeah, why don't you get one of them to do it."

"If you can find one that's as good as you at football then I'm fine with that."

"I'm not as good as you seem to believe I am." Gareth started to walk faster to a table but Cristiano kept his pace. Cristiano felt desperate, he could probably find another player if he waited and tried harder but he was fixed on Gareth now, he was going to get what he wanted.

"What do I need to do? Huh? I uh..." Cristiano fiddled with some things in the back pocket of his jeans before sitting down, he pulled out a punch card to a frozen yogurt place. "I have a punch card to Berry Creamz. One more punch and you get 8oz free!" He tried.

"Lactose intolerant." Gareth stated simply, Cristiano almost bought it.

"There's queso on your nachos, liar!"

"I don't like frozen yogurt." Cristiano had to have come across the most stubborn guy, didn't he? It was too bad that Cris was just as stubborn, if not more.

"Everybody likes frozen yogurt."

"You're right." Gareth took the punch card from Cristiano's fingers and smirked with a stuffed mouth. "I'm still not playing though."

Cristiano sat there wondering why the hell this kid wouldn't budge on the matter. He sat there and watched Gareth eat his nachos for a while. He played so well with Cris, he was a good player by himself, he adapted to being yanked into a football game by Karim within minutes. To put it simply, Gareth was a natural. "What am I gonna do? What do I have to do?" he asked himself and then he asked Gareth.

"Figure it out..." he stood up with his food and then smirked again, "Captain."

When Gareth walked away and threw his trash away and ventured into the mall, Cristiano let him leave. He did need to figure it out.

 

 

 

He never texted Irina and he heard about it when he saw her next. He lost to Marcelo in Mario Kart twice, and he continued going to the rec center to play more games. Karim figured it was to find another good player and kept giving Cristiano encouragements, telling him not to give up on the perfect player yet, even though he had already let 'the one' slip through his fingers.

Karim wasn't the person you went to to be comforted to say the least.

There were a couple good players there today, Karim was looking out for them but Cris was too focused on 'the one' as Karim had called him several times.

Karim asked him about this kid called James and another called Lucas that he believed were really good. Cris told him to save it for Marcelo.

He saw Gareth getting out of his car while he and Karim were leaving the facility. He guessed that Gareth was going to run in the trails that were behind the rec center. "Benzy I'll catch you later. I'll get a ride from someone."

"Whatever, I'll see you at the same time on Thursday." When Gareth walked into the locker room, Cristiano waited outside for him.

Gareth walked outside of the rec center with a cross country shirt on, the name 'BALE' on the back.

"Fancy seeing you here." Cris said, starting to run with Gareth.

"Are you stalking me?" Gareth asked, semi-seriously.

"No, I think the universe is telling you to join the football team." Cris continued to jog with Gareth, "So how far are we running?"

He heard Gareth scoff, "5 kilometers."

"Easy." Cristiano replied, he ran ahead of Gareth who shook his head and laughed before catching up to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Irina is going to be in this story for a while but she's not going to be an angsty evil bitch bc I don't really want this to be THAT much of an angsty story.
> 
> reviews help a lot :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cristiano starts to spend more time with Gareth and pull away from Irina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its thursdayyy :)

Cristiano quit going to rec games to scout for players after his run with Gareth. He’d already found one, of course he was refusing Cris’ every offer to play for the school team but Cris was, if anything, persistent. He would leave dates with Irina, or movies with Marcelo if it was Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday at 3:15 pm just to go on Gareth’s daily 5k run, although as July was nearing it’s end the runs became more of a 10.5k.

He could tell that Gareth was adding on more distance every time to try to get Cristiano to hop off of his back, and even though he felt like his legs were jello after the runs he wasn’t going to give up on Gareth.

“Should we just start training for a marathon?” Cris asked Gareth on the 4th kilometer of their run.

“Cheeky. If you’re tired you should just give up.” Gareth retorted, just as out of breath as Cristiano himself was. He knew what Gareth was getting at.

“I don’t give up.” He said looking Gareth in the eyes, they were pretty.

“I can tell.” he stated simply before looking forward and continuing to run. Gareth was starting to seem less annoyed with him, or it seemed that way. He felt the more he badgered Gareth on the subject the more Gareth was starting to actually weigh his options.

They finished their run 30 minutes later, Cris felt bad about ditching Fabio as his running partner but it wasn’t like Fabio cared that much, they still saw each other everyday anyway.

They went into the rec center’s showers and washed off before changing. Gareth was out before him, he forgot his locker combo as he usually just came dressed and then left, he had been doing something with Marcelo when he saw that he had to leave if he wanted to catch Gareth before his run. Gareth had never actually asked him to be his running partner, he just kind of showed up and if Gareth wasn’t out yet he would wait for him. One time he got there a minute after 3:30 and Gareth had already left on his run so Cristiano knew he wasn’t waiting for him.

He had left after he finally opened his lock and changed his clothes, when he walked out Gareth was on the phone with someone.

“Toni, what the hell?... Seriously!?... Dude, you’re my ride how did you forget?... You sound like a 14 year old…. Whatever, I’ll walk. Enjoy your date…. Yeah, bye.”

“Your ride bailed on you?” Cristiano asked him as soon as he hung up, startling Gareth.

“Normally he’s in the gym here but he met some guy that was playing football here like 2 weeks ago and they went on a date. I didn’t even know Toni liked dudes.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that." he said.

"I'm not saying there is. I just didn't know that. I don't know I would've taken him to a gay club for his birthday or something." Cris laughed and then Gareth giggled too. Wait-Toni?

"Hold on, Toni Kroos?"

"Yeah, Toni Kroos."

"That doesn't really surprise me, you should see how he and Isco interact at practice."

"Really?"

"Really. Look I know you can't stand me-"

"I never said that."

"Yeah, okay..."

"I'm serious, you've grown on me."

"Then you wouldn't mind going to get dinner? Because I'm starving and I don't know how you wouldn't be." Cristiano realized that it was around 6 anyway, they lost track of running today, competing with each other half of the time.

"If you have a ride then yeah because honestly my legs are killing me."

"Yeah I have a car."

"Good. What are you thinking?"

"Burgers?"

"Sounds good to me." When they got to the restaurant they Toni sitting at a table with-who Cristiano recognized to be James-his date. Karim had told him that James was a sophomore who just came from Columbia, he had already asked Ancelotti to recruit him to their team.

He and Gareth didn't really say much when the food came out, they just stuffed their faces and laughed at each other. Before that they were talking about things that had nothing to do with Gareth joining the football team, it was nice. Gareth was actually a pretty cool guy.

Toni had caught sight of both him and Gareth and turned red, that was when he told Gareth about how Isco and Toni always held hands and and hung all over each other but Isco had a boyfriend in a rival team. Gareth laughed and told him he didn't know how he couldn't tell.

"Looking back on it now I think it's kind of obvious. I always caught him staring at guys, I just never thought about it that way. I honestly just thought that he was just looking for new haircut ideas not looking at their bums."

Cristiano laughed, "So your gaydar is broken?"

"Um, obviously."

"So what country are you from? I want to say Wales but I'm not sure."

"Wales, yeah. I'm from Cardiff. You're obviously from Europe too."

"Portugal."

"Portugal. I have never been there, I honestly thought it was a city in Spain when I was a kid."

"Wow, that's harsh. I can't say I even knew what Wales was when I was a kid though."

"Ow." They both laughed. Cristiano looked at his phone and saw that they had been at the diner for 3 hours. He looked around and saw that Toni and James were gone.

"Seeing as it's 9:30, I should probably take you home."

"Oh god, yeah that would be a good idea, my parent are probably worried." They payed and Cristiano took Gareth home, unlike most people that went to their school he didn’t live on campus, he lived with his parents in a development, his father owned the pool and Gareth was the lifeguard there when he wasn’t going on runs.

 

 

“Where were you?” Fabio asks him as soon as he walks through the door, he saw Marcelo’s jacket on the ground.

“Out.”

“With who? Because Irina called when you didn’t pick up your cellphone. Are you cheating on her?” Fabio asked, he probably didn’t think that but Irina probably did.

“I was on a run with Gareth.”

“A 6 hour run?”

“No but I was with him the entire 6 hours.” Cristiano hated when Fabio did this, once he asked 3 questions there were bound to be 20 more. He lived to annoy the shit out of Cristiano.

“So you’re cheating on her with Gareth? She’ll love that.”

“You’re a piece of shit.” Cris said before walking into the bathroom.

“Your favourite piece of shit!” Fabio exclaimed before he shut the door.

 

 

The next morning he woke up at 9:30. He texted Irina and apologized to her for not responding the night before. She told him to pick her up at 12:30 to go to lunch and take her to the mall.

Before then he and Marcelo held a captain’s practice for an hour, working on basic skills and teamwork. He didn't even bother showering, he and Gareth were going on a run later so he didn't see the point in wasting water.

He picked Irina up and they got lunch at some organic restaurant that gave rabbit sized portions. Cristiano got some type of meat and vegetable combo and Irina got a salad. She made him take her to the mall and carry everything she got, he knew she modeled as a side job but the amount of money she was spending was crazy.

He took her home after what felt like years. He dropped all if her buyings off in her and he was about to leave when she grabbed him.

"We never do anything Cristiano..."

"We just went to the mall." she put her hand on Cris' chest.

"No, we never do... anything." Oh. It was true, they had never done anything together before, Cristiano never really wanted to. She started kissing him and he kissed her back, until he saw the the time on the clock. 3:25.

"Stop, stop, I have to go."

"Cristiano! What the hell?"

"Sorry, I just-I'll see you." He kind of felt bad but he really didn't want to do anything with her. By the time he got outside to the running course Gareth would have started already.

When he got there he threw his keys into the locker and looked at his phone. 3:41 and 10 angry messages from Irina which he ignored. He bolted out, thinking maybe he could catch up to Gareth. When he got outside Gareth was standing there.

"You're late." he said

"You waited for me." Cristiano stated, a dorky grin took place on his face.

"Yeah I did. Come on." He said as he started running.

 

They finished their run and stopped at a gelato place before taking Gareth home. They only ran 6k today, Gareth claiming to be tired from a lifeguard shift he took that morning.

"Cris." Gareth said picking at his gelato.

"Yeah?"

"So i've um, I've been thinking... about your offer." he never looked up, he seemed embarrassed. He, Cristiano Ronaldo had conquered Gareth's iron will.

"I want to, but I can't."

"Wait what?" Cristiano asked, confused at what just happened.

"I can't. I run fast and I can kick a ball but I can't do any of that fancy stuff to get past another player, I don't know the team or your gameplans. I'm sorry."

"I'll teach you." Cristiano said the second after Gareth stopped speaking. "If you aren't going to do cross country then we don't need to run 5 kilometers everyday. We can go practice at the rec center or at the school and we can practice!"

"Are you sure?"

"If you'll play then of course."

"I guess so..."

"Yes!" Cris threw his arms up and his gelato found it's way to the ground. He groaned while Gareth laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for cheesey gareth and cris eating burgers
> 
> comments please :) next update will be on monday


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cristianos got Gareth to agree to playing on the football team, they're spending even more time together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for posting so late in the day!!

Cristiano was extremely excited, it took him 2 weeks for him to get Gareth to finally accept his offer. When he got home Fabio was wondering what the hell he was so giddy about.

He was on his way to pick Gareth up and go to the park to train. He was listening to a mixtape of flamenco music that Sergio made for him for his birthday last year, tapping his fingers on the wheel of his car to the beat.

Gareth was walking out of his front door when Cristiano got to his house, he turned the music down before Gareth entered the car.

When they got to the fields they stretched and then went on a mile run. Knowing Gareth was already very in shape, they just went straight into agilities. He still wasn't fast enough on his feet to be the team's secret weapon so that was a main focus for Cristiano.

Cris wanted to focus on specific skills for Gareth to get the hang of before moving onto the next. Today it was simple, they were going to do headers, he hadn't seen Gareth do any in the game they'd played so he figured that they'd do a basic drill on them before getting him to direct them into the goal. Cristiano tossed the ball up towards Gareth's head and made him head it back to him 20 times, he started making Gareth judge whether to head the ball, control it with his chest, or use his legs to control it.

"Okay, so I play right wing, that means you'll be playing left wing in games so we're just going to practice you for situations on the left and center of the field. I'm going to toss the ball towards you and you're going to knock it into the net somehow." Gareth was compliant, the first couple hit the post or crossbar or completely missed the goal but he finally flicked his head in the right way and it entered the goal.

After that Cristiano moved the corner and started kicking the ball to Gareth to score with, he was on a roll too; heading the ball and volleying the ball into the net. He seemed to have that skill down, so they went to free kicks and penalties, he tried explaining offsides accurately.

After simple shots he tried to teach Gareth how to curve the ball. Almost every ball made its way into the net but he only managed to curve 3 of them. When they did free kicks, he got 6 out of 11 balls into the net, curving 5 of them.

They took a cool down lap after collecting the balls and then stretched again. "You did a good job." Cristiano told Gareth.

"Ah, thanks." he said, not really convinced of it.

"I'm serious, you can already kind of curve a ball, I didn't learn how to do that until just before I moved here and it took me a while to get it."

"Middle school Cristiano picks up a trick that I pick up in my last year of highschool."

"Stop it." Cristiano warned him, "You're doing great, by summer training you'll be up to speed, probably even past."

"Really?"

"Really."

 

 

 

When Cristiano stopped to drop Gareth off at his house, he paused before leaving Cristiano's car.

"Do you want to come in? For lunch."

"Uh, yeah sure." Cris wasn't expecting it. He put his car into park and then followed Gareth into the house. Gareth's lifeguard shirt was lying on the couch under a pair of sunglasses and trunks.

"The pool area is closed on Sunday's, that's out for my shift tomorrow." They made sandwiches and ate them before Cris had to leave, he was seeing a movie with Marcelo soon.

"I'll see you on Tuesday, okay?"

"Same time?"

"Yeah, bye Gaz."

"Gaz?" Gareth laughed, he'd never been called that before. "Bye Cris."

 

 

 

On Tuesday they worked on footwork and ball skills. Cristiano taught him how to nutmeg(which he was a little too good at), the Maradona, and step overs. He was catching on really fast, Cristiano didn't think that he would need much more time to practice before preseason. All he really needed was to learn how to play with the team. Cristiano was right when he told Gareth that he was a natural.

They'd only trained for around an hour so Cris asked Gareth to get lunch with him.

"I think we're almost done." Cris told Gareth after they bought their food and sat down.

"What? We just got our stuff."

"No, with training. You're a natural, you don't need that much time to pick up in the skills I'm teaching you. It's not like they're super easy to do either." Gareth was at a very good level of skill right now, with the boarding school they were going to and the similar ones they faced, every game showed the same skill as an MLS game as well.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. You're kind of amazing, Gaz." Gareth was turning red, like he'd never been complimented before. Cristiano couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Thanks."

"So what are you doing the rest of the day?"

"Due to impending thunderstorms the pool area is closed so I'm off. I don't really have anything to do."

"Do you want to do something?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"The aquarium's open." he suggested, he probably sounded like a nerd when he suggested it but it was really the only thing to go out and do on short notice.

"Yeah, sure."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll go. We both kind of smell though." he was right, the were both pretty ripe.

"Do you have clothes with you?"

"Yes, in my gym bag."

"There's showers on campus and it's in the way."

"Okay then, let's go."

 

They showered and changed, Cristiano saw Karim showing James around campus and avoided them, he'd tell Karim he got Gareth to agree later.

They got to the aquarium 15 minutes later. They payed their 5 dollars and went in to see the fish. Cristiano liked the stingrays, you could touch them and he thought that they were cute. Gareth on the other hand refused to touch one.

"No way in hell. They're slimy and gross!"

Gareth was however enthralled by the tropical fish tank. Cristiano took a picture of him staring at the fish, the light of the tank reducing Gareth to a silhouette. He put the picture up on instagram 'aquarium with Gaz' with the fish emoji next to it. They went to look at the jellyfish and then the sharks and turtles.

Cris made Gareth go back to the stingrays. When they were standing there looking, a stingray swam up near them. Cristiano grabbed Gareth's hand and held it for a second before forcing him to touch the stingray.

Gareth squealed and then told Cristiano he was going to kill him and then they left.

 

"I had fun today." Cristiano told Gareth when they stopped in front of his house.

"So did I, I mean until you forced me to touch that stingray. Regardless we should do something like that again."

"Yeah, I'd enjoy that. Bye Gaz."

"Bye, I'll see you later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they dorks, they dorks.
> 
> COMMENTS APPRECIATED!! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irina is fed up with Cristiano always being with Gareth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating recently, ive been hella busy

Irina was mad at him, very mad at him. When Cristiano was returned to his dorm room she was waiting outside, tapping her foot angrily.

"Cristiano, you haven't been answering my texts or calls! I get worried about you and then I see you post a picture on Instagram of you and that guy!" Cristiano had to admit, her anger was well reasoned but he didn't really feel bad about not answering her.

"His name is Gareth."

"That's all you have to say!? I'm worried about your well being and all you have to tell me is that the guy's name is Gareth!?"

"I told you that I was training him for football, Irina. I finally got him to accept under the condition that I help him get up to speed, there are going to be days where I don't answer you!"

"Because you can't or because you're too busy with your new girlfriend Gareth? You weren't training him the entire time, you went to the freaking aquarium took cutesy pictures of him like some lovesick kid!"

"I can't because I'm trying to get him ready to play! We can't come off of a championship title and then drop our status to a has-been team! I'm a captain and I'm dedicating myself to making this team better and keeping us on top! So what if I'm just training Gareth to be a secret weapon? I can become friends with him if I want too Irina! My social life isn't limited to you!"

"Wow." was her initial response. They'd gotten in plenty of fights together but this was the first time they had ever screamed at each other. This was the first time she'd really made him angry, made him feel like she didn't trust him. "I don't even know what to say to you."

She walked past him, her heels clicking rhythmically down the hallway. Cristiano took a deep breath.

This was the second time someone had made comments on how much time he was spending with Gareth, it bothered him. He knew Fabio was joking around when he claimed that Cris was cheating on Irina with Gareth but Irina seemed so serious, she was never one to make jokes during a serious conversation.

That upset him, if Cristiano wanted to be with Gareth he would tell Irina and then they would break up, regardless of Gareth's platonic feelings for him. He wouldn't drag Irina on knowing that he wanted someone else.

He thought to himself, what if you do want someone else and you just haven't recognized it? What if Irina has noticed it?

Cristiano was in touch with himself, if he wanted someone or something then he would be aware of it, Irina was just acting up due to not being the center of his universe, everybody can be like that though.

He had nothing to apologize for, she did. Either she would say she was sorry for how she was acting or nature would run it's course, they would break up and they would hurt for a while before moving on from each other.

**  
  
  
  
  
**

Irina texted him around a week later when he was on his way to pick Gareth up, she apologized for the night before and told him that she'd like to go on a date to make up for her distrust in him.

He didn't answer her until he pulled up to Gareth's house, 'okay yeah' he responded. She answered him about when and what time but Gareth got into the car before he could actually read the text.

Today they worked on curving the ball again, Gareth nailed every single shot in from the penalty line. Every one of the curving beautifully, preseason was starting soon. Gareth was ready to adapt to the team and show off his skills, he was excited to watch Gareth stun everyone during the season, even Gareth himself. Cristiano had faith in him.

It was 4:30 when they finished up, they had went to get dinner and then Went to take Gareth home.

"Do you want to go for a run?" Gareth asked on their way back to his house.

"I would but the community center is closed."

"The pool area in the development, it's not just one pool it's a couple pools a running path and tennis courts, it's basically a swim club."

"The yeah, I'm not doing anything."

Cris parked near the pool area and Gareth got his keys out, he unlocked the large gate that sealed an enormous area from the rest of the development. He never thought the area was that big until he walked inside the cut off area. There were running paths and about 3 pools, tennis courts and table tennis.

"Wow. This is huge. Which pool do you lifeguard at?"

"The 5ft to 9ft pool and sometimes the kiddie pool." Gareth spoke as they finally began to run.

"Sounds like fun."

"Oh it is. There is always something new with the kids. At the bigger pool it's always girls that like my accent and think I'm interesting and 'mysterious' because of it."

"You must love that."

"Definitely not." Cristiano laughed at that, he knew how girls could be.

 

They ran for 20 minutes before Cristiano started to pick up on how his lack of running-and Gareth's too-was making him a bit more tired than usual.

"You look tired Gareth."

"No way." Gareth panted shoving Cris afterwards. After that it turned into Cristiano chasing Gareth around aimlessly, he finally caught up with him and they fell into the pool together.

They resurfaced and laughed together.

"I didn't think this through." Cris stated, laughing at their situation.

"There are towels in the supply house." Gareth said trying to stop giggling, he splashed Cristiano and they got into a water war before sitting on the ledge of the pool.

"My dad's gonna kill me if he sees my come in the house with wet clothes." Gareth said, laughing bitterly.

"I have dry clothes in my bag you can borrow."

"That would save my life."

 

They got towels from the towel closet that Gareth had the keys to and Gareth changed into Cris' spare clothes. He drove Gareth back to his house, hijacking a towel from the supply house to keep his seat dry.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Gareth said to Cristiano. Tomorrow was summer training Cristiano thought to himself, the summer had went by so fast after he had met Gareth, he still had to read his summer books.

"Do you need a ride?"

"No it's fine."

"Really, I'll be in the area, it's on the way. Tomorrow is a late practice anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah it's fine. I'd be glad to."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow."

**  
  
**

 

 

Cristiano parked his car and then walked through campus into the housing wing. He had a dopey smile he couldn't wipe off of his face, until he saw Pepe and Fabio walking towards Pepe's room.

"Shit Ronnie!" Pepe said, he was confused.

"What?"

"You're in trouble!" Pepe replied, dragging out the word trouble.

"Irina had been inside the dorm for a couple hours and she is pissed. When I say pissed I mean worst than your last fight." Fabio responded to his question. "Good luck brother."

They walked past each other and then Cris checked his phone. The message from Irina said 'ill swing by ur dorm at 5 and we can go to  dinner. ill pay.'

Shit. That was all he could think while walking towards his dorm.

When he opened the door Irina was sitting on his bed.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked, "I try to apologize for overreacting going to dinner and paying for it and you completely blow me off? What the hell is going on Cristiano?" he could tell she was mad but she sounded upset, he'd never seen her upset over a fight before.

"I'm sorry, I opened the message but I never go the chance to look at it again, I forgot about it, I didn't see that you wanted to go out tonight."

"What were you doing that you didn't answer me? Were you with Marcelo and Benzema again?" Cristiano refrained from answering that. "You were with that guy weren't you?!"

"Gareth." Cristiano said weakly.

"Gareth! Always Gareth, huh!? I doubt you were playing football with him the entire time, you had time to check your messages! I'm right aren't I? I know you can have a social life aside from me, don't bring that up again but you had time to read your messages!"

"I'm so sorry Irina, I just forgot. We were having a good time. What can I do to make it up to you? Anything, please. I feel terrible."

Irina looked down for a second, she swallowed air and looked up at him while pushing her hair back from her face.

"Stop doing stuff with him. Outside of football. Summer training starts tomorrow, he doesn't need you anymore."

"I'm sorry Irina but no. I'm not going to do that, I like him a lot."

"Yeah, it sure seems like you really like him."

"I'm not a cheater." Was all he said. Her face turned to a bittersweet smile.

"I know Cristiano, I know. We've been growing apart this summer and I've been trying to deny it. I'm sorry for how I've been acting."

"It's alright, I just don't want you mad at me, I still will always care about you."

"I know that, I think we should just be friends. I'll let you have room to pursue others and I'll have my own room to do the same."

"That... sounds good. I'll see you later Irina."

"I'll see you later Cristiano." she kissed him in the lips before exiting his dorm.

He was glad they were remaining friends as opposed to being bitter with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so Irina and Cris have officially broken up, maybe ronnie will go for someone else now???? hmmm???? 
> 
> please comment, it's very appreciated


End file.
